Explaining My Signatures

Several folks have asked me lately what “SDG” means, and why I sometimes sign as “Ezra” and sometimes sign as “The Farmer.” First, the initials “SDG” stand for “Soli Deo Gloria” – “To God Alone Be the Glory.” Johann Sebastian Bach signed all his musical works, whether “sacred” or “secular,” with these initials, reminding us that all our work is done to the glory of God. “Whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (I Cor. 10:31).

As to the names “Ezra” and “The Farmer,” I would first encourage you to go read the “About” section of this blog for more information. In a nutshell, while acknowledging with “SDG” that all truth is God’s truth, and that all our lives are under His Lordship, yet when I am writing about something that pertains directly to special revelation/the Bible/theology/the church/etc., I’m writing as Ezra, who set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel (Ezra 7:10); and when I am writing about something pertains more to God’s revelation in all of creation/wisdom outside of the Bible/economics/gardening/woodworking/anything else, I’m writing as The Farmer, who was instructed properly how to farm wisely by God, who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great not only in the pages of His word but also in nature, through common sense and conscience, through other people, and through the basic structures of reality (cf. Isaiah 28:23-29).